John McAfee arrested in Guatemala

The fugitive software millionaire John McAfee has been arrested in Guatemala
after more than three weeks on the run, and is now facing deportation to
Belize where he fears “summary execution” by authorities investigating the
murder of his neighbour.

McAfee, 67, was detained at the Intercontinental Hotel in Guatemala City with the help of Interpol. Police said he was taken into custody after illegally entering the country

Hours earlier he had publicly announced he wanted to seek asylum in the Central American country after secretly fleeing over the border from Belize.

McAfee has refused to turn himself in to authorities in Belize, where he has been called a person of interest by police investigating the murder of his neighbour Gregory Faull, an American who was found shot dead in early November. There is no warrant for McAfee’s arrest in relation to the murder and police have said he is not a prime suspect in the case.

While on the run McAfee told the Telegraph by telephone that he feared being “summarily executed” in Belize. He claims he is being persecuted because he made allegations of official corruption and refused to donate to local politicians.

Dean Barrow, prime minister of the Central American country, has called McAfee paranoid and “bonkers”.

Video footage released by Vice magazine, which has been accompanying McAfee, showed him being taken away from outside the hotel in Guatemala City in a pick-up truck with the help of an Interpol agent.

Guatemala’s Interior Minister Lopez Bonilla said he was being taken to a building used to house illegal migrants and the government would try to send him back to Belize.

The minister said: “He entered the country illegally and we are going to seek his expulsion for this crime.”

Today, McAfee was blogging from the detention centre, where he said he had been given a computer and claimed the coffee was “excellent”.

He also claimed that US embassy officials had told him they could not help him with a request to be returned to the US instead of Belize, but that a Guatemalan judge had issued a stay that would temporarily prevent his deportation there.

His lawyer, however, said he feared the deportation would come soon.

McAfee, who made his fortune designing anti-virus computer software that carries his name, had already hired Telesforo Guerra, the former attorney general of Guatemala, as his lawyer to manage his claim for political asylum. Hours before his arrest he had broken cover to publicly announce his asylum bid.

He said: “Yes, we are presenting this, and I want it to be clear, because of the persecution, not because of the murder.”

Mr Faull was found in his home on an island where he lived alongside McAfee, who employed bodyguards and wore camouflage.

They had clashed over McAfee’s aggressive dogs, several of whom were found dead in the days before the murder.

While on the run McAfee updated a blog and conducted interviews with several media outlets to deny involvement in the killing of Mr Faull.

He told the Telegraph: “All neighbours can be minor annoyances from time to time but without them the world would be empty. I know he didn’t kill my dogs.”

Shortly before his detention in Guatemala City he told Reuters: “We had one disagreement about a dog. I had disagreements with all my neighbors about my dogs. I had a disagreement with myself about my dogs. They were noisy. Why would I leave behind the body and all the evidence? I’m not stupid.”